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Authors Talk: a Discussion with Bryce Paradis and Evan Coupland

February 20, 2019

author, Bryce Paradis, Evan Coupland, fiction, interview, literature, writing

This article is a part of a series of blog entries, which I refer to as “Authors Talk”. You can think of it as an author interview and, indeed, that is the name of the blog category. However, I prefer to see it as a friendly chat between fellow authors. Today I’m having this virtual chat with Bryce Paradis and Evan Coupland, authors of Stories from the Nation of Wisland.

Or, to be more precise, I’m having a chat with them having a chat; an interview of them interviewing each other; a meta-interview. I don’t know what to call it, things are never simple with Bryce Paradis and Evan Coupland. Of course, this is what makes Stories from the Nation of Wisland such a remarkable text to begin with.

You can find a detailed list of useful links to their work at the end of this article.

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Review of A Girl in Exile

February 7, 2019

Book Review, Criticism

Albania, book, fiction, Kadare, literature, review

Albanian literature is not something I’ve been exposed to a lot. Indeed, this review of A Girl in Exile, by Ismail Kadare, is not only the first opportunity for me to review a novel of Albanian literature, but also the first time I even read one.

The story seems deceptively simple. According to the book description:

During the bureaucratic machinery of Albania’s 1945–1991 dictatorship, playwright Rudian Stefa is called in for questioning by the Party Committee. A girl—Linda B.—has been found dead, with a signed copy of his latest book in her possession. He soon learns that Linda’s family, considered suspect, was exiled to a small town far from the capital. Under the influence of a paranoid regime, Rudian finds himself swept along on a surreal quest to discover what really happened to Linda B.

At first glance, A Girl in Exile seems like a mystery thriller with political aspects. Nothing could be further from the truth.

review of a girl in exile — Albania is a fascinatingly mysterious country, and the world of *A Girl in Exile* reveals that marvellously.

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Illiterary Fiction (New Literary Fiction Novel)

January 3, 2019

Fiction

book, fiction, literary fiction, novel

Imagine a world where people snub literature and knowledge. Those who read are “readers”, a derogatory term barely superior to being a burger-flipper. It’s a world just like our own. When you think of it, it is our own. Welcome to Illiterary Fiction, my latest literary-fiction novel.

As with most of interesting ideas, this too began with a what-if question. Seeing the impossible mediocrity that surrounds us, the disappearance of basic reading and writing skills, I had a what-if moment.

What if people stopped reading altogether? What if there existed professional readers, whose job would be to read and summarize for those who wouldn’t read anything longer than a tweet?

The world of *Illiterary Fiction* is not a pleasant one. It becomes even less so once you realize it doesn’t differ at all from our world.

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